Privacy Policy

Effective date: September 25, 2026

AnyCheese is a cheese reference site. You can read almost everything on it without giving us anything. This page explains what we do collect, why, and who else sees it.

What we collect

Messages you send us

If you use the contact or feedback form, we keep what you typed, plus your name and email address if you gave them, so we can reply and act on it. Suggestions for corrections to a cheese page may be edited and published as part of the site.

Poll votes

The "which would you pick" poll on comparison pages is anonymous. We set a random identifier in a cookie so the same browser is counted once per comparison. It is not linked to a name or email.

We are not currently taking newsletter signups. If you subscribed in the past, your email address is stored with Beehiiv, the service that sends the newsletter, and every email carries an unsubscribe link.

Usage data and analytics

We use three tools to see which pages people read and where the site is broken: Clicky, which we run without cookies to count page visits; Google Analytics, which uses cookies to distinguish visitors; and Microsoft Clarity, which records how pages are clicked and scrolled. These tools receive your IP address, device and browser information, and the pages you visit. Our host and our content delivery network also keep standard server logs (IP address, request path, timestamp) for security and troubleshooting.

You can turn Google Analytics and Clarity off for your browser on the cookie policy page.

Services that process data for us

DigitalOcean hosts the site. DigitalOcean's privacy policy applies to its infrastructure.
Cloudflare sits in front of the site as a content delivery network and firewall, and may set cookies needed for security. Cloudflare's privacy policy.
Google Analytics measures page traffic. Google's privacy policy.
Microsoft Clarity records page interactions. Microsoft's privacy statement.
Clicky provides cookie-free page statistics.
Beehiiv stores past newsletter subscribers and sends the newsletter.
Gumroad processes payment if you buy the Cheese Tasting Journal. We never see your card details. Gumroad's privacy policy.

We do not sell your data and do not share it with anyone beyond the services above.

Affiliate links

Some links to shops, including Murray's Cheese, are affiliate links. If you buy something after clicking one, we may earn a commission. The shop, not AnyCheese, handles your order and your data, and its own privacy policy applies. Affiliate links do not change the price you pay.

Advertising

We do not currently show ads. If we add an ad network, we will update this page and the cookie list before it goes live.

How long we keep things

Contact and feedback messages are kept until they have been dealt with and for a reasonable period afterwards. Analytics data is kept according to each provider's default retention. Server logs are rotated automatically.

Your choices and requests

To see, correct or delete anything we hold about you, send a note through the contact page. We will act on it within 7 days. To stop analytics cookies, use the switch on the cookie policy page or block cookies in your browser.

Children

AnyCheese is not aimed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect information from them.

Changes

If this policy changes, the new version is posted here with a new effective date.

Contact

Questions about privacy: use the contact page.